Gustav

So far it looks like Gustav will still hit west of New Orleans. From looking at our favorite weather source, www.wunderground.com, it appears that we can expect tropical storm to category 1 force winds & rain. We have lots of outside stuff, so we took care of it last night. All wind chimes have been moved in, hanging plants set on the ground, and all backyard toys are safely stored in the shed. Oh, and we turned off the gas to the grill, just in case.

We do have our hurricane supplies, mostly purchased when the season started: batteries, bottled water, extra cat & dog food. We do have some canned food. But, if it came to it, we would eat Thaw of the Day first. That's where you open the deep freeze, see what has thawed on top, and eat it before it goes bad. We could live for a month out of that deep freeze. Since we have a gas grill & stove, I'm not worried about cooking in a power outage.

Speaking of the dreaded power outage: when buying a home in a hurricane zone, make sure to check the power grid. Our house is located in the same grid as a hospital 3 blocks away. We are one of the first to get power restored after a storm. The longest we've been without power in the last 4 years was about 17 hours after Ivan hit. The transformer blew and another had to be brought in from Florida. Usually, we get power back within 12 hours at most.

In any case we've got our cell phones charged, the Coleman lanterns ready and waiting to go, and a fresh supply of toys from the Mommy Drawer for Paige. But for now, we're headed outside to let Paige drive her Jeep and swing before Gustav makes his apperance.